Xavier Basketball: Musketeers battle Florida State in second-round

Florida State will be looking to avenge last years second round loss when they meet up with the Musketeers on Sunday.

Xavier and Florida State meet in the second round of last seasons NCAA tournament, a game in which the Musketeers boat raced the Seminoles 91-66.

The Musketeers did much of the same to this year’s first-round opponent Texas Southern.

Florida State did not face much resistance from its first-round opponent, Missouri, either. The return of Michael Porter Jr. did not phase the Seminoles as they dropped the Tigers 67-54.

A win for Florida State would mean its first Sweet Sixteen appearance since 2011, where they fell victim to tournament Cinderella VCU.

For Xavier, it advanced all the way to the Elite Eight after defeating Florida State last season, and a win in this would be its seventh Sweet Sixteen appearance in the past ten years.

Keys to the Game

Both Xavier and Florida State have potent offenses averaging over eighty points per game on the season.

Each team features impressive balance on offense with at least three players averaging double figures.  Xavier does feature slightly more star power with the trio of Bluiett, Macura, and Kanter.

The question of the game might be who can get more stops on the defensive end.

According to KenPom these two rank 58th (Florida State) and 60th (Xavier) in defensive efficiency with Florida State surrendering 73.8 points per game to Xavier’s 74.7

Which of the two show up bigger on the defensive end could be the deciding factor on who advances.

Next: Impact of UMBC's historic upset win

Prediction

The winner will go on to face the winner of Gonzaga versus Ohio State, regardless of the two teams that meet it should make for one of the better Sweet Sixteen matchups.

One team will be present to represent the state of Ohio, and it will be Xavier.

Xavier – 83     Florida St. – 75